Diverging Paths
by Quippy
Summary: A human boy who unwittingly becomes a god. A damaged Kitsune with a past she is better left forgetting. The two are bound together by the need to find a place to belong and the plotting of a matchmaking god who is a little too good at hiding. A story of roles reversed and the many differences found in Nanami and Tomoe's path as a result, told only mostly in order. NanamiXTomoe
1. Chapter 1

Ello, ello fandom world!

So, I haven't written anything in a long, _long_ time unfortunately (I really will finish my Hakouoki fics, definitely, probably...). But I'm trying to get back in the swing of things and I've kinda fallen stupidly in love with with Kamisama Kiss (both Manga and Anime) so I thought I'd take a try and getting back into writing with this since I've had some persistent plot bunnies running around in my head for it. The first of which is this fic here :D

 **A quick note on this story:**

 **This is a bit of an experiment on the "Nanami is the familiar, Tomoe is the god" trope. It's not a straight retelling of the story with their roles switched, though a lot of the elements will be similar I've changed quite a bit, particularly for story lines and character backgrounds.**

 **Another thing to note is that this story should probably be viewed more as a collection of one shots within the same universe. They'll not always been in chronological order, and some chapters may take place either much earlier or much later that those that lead up to them. I'm going to try and keep it from getting too confusing but if there is anything that doesn't make sense please let me know!**

 **Reviews are love and criticism is always welcome! Thank you for reading!**

* * *

The paper the man in the park had given him led him down a winding path farther and farther from the city with each passing moment. His feet ached from the exercise, blisters forming where his shoes - made to look stylish at the events his father had always been hosting, not for long hikes across the city - rubbed against his feet. It would be worth it though, it _had_ to be worth it, if he could just get to the house that the man had promised him then he'd be alright. Just down the mountain road and then up the steps he found there and -

The last of the hope Tomoe had tucked away for the night - and really, the entirety of his life - shattered completely upon seeing the promised sanctuary the stranger at the park had directed him to.

"' _Take my home. You are more worthy of it than I am.'_ " Tomoe mimicked the man's voice earlier, vitriol in every word as he did, "I can't believe I let myself get played like that." Tomoe muttered to himself as he glared at the decrepit shrine he'd been duped into walking half the length of the city to get to. The creepy old place was a healthy dosage of salt poured into the fresh wound of his father's lies and abandonment earlier that day. "I swear if I ever see that bastard again I'll tie him down and feed him to a pack of wild dogs!"

Furious Tomoe kicked out at a rock in place of the blond man that had sent him there's head and swore loudly as the rock stubbornly remained where it sat and his foot took the brunt of the force. He swore and hopped ungainly on his uninjured foot sending his bags to the ground. The items from his room he was able to grab before the men from bank kicked him out on his ass scattered everywhere, rumpled clothes and school supplies and the few personal items he had wanted to keep spilling out at his feet. Because of course life was not content to allow him even the smallest of dignities at this point.

A small, child-like voice broke through his internal tangent. "Mikage-Sama is that you?"

Tomoe stilled at the sound, squinting into the darkness around him unsure if the creepiness of the shrine was playing tricks on him or if he'd actually heard someone. "Welcome home Mikage-Sama!"

Another child's piping voice chanted. Tomoe had a brief moment to contemplate if the stress of his situation had finally broken his mind before a pair of fireballs blinked into existence right before him, lighting up the shrine grounds like the sun had come early to the mountain.

In the face of finding himself in a shrine apparently haunted by demons made of hell fire - he would _kill_ that blond, wailing bastard if he ever saw him again - Tomoe gave up on all pretenses of maintaining anything like calm and gave an entirely unmanly shriek as he scrambled backwards. The balls of fire followed his movements, undoubtedly reveling in his screams of terror, before spreading out to create a great ring of fire around the premises of the shrine and cutting off his escape. Abandoning his bags he scrambled up the few steps leading up to the shrine proper in the frantic hope that whatever deity may have once reigned over the abandoned place might grant him some semblance of safety from the demonic creatures behind him.

The doors to the shrine's inner sanctuary slid open with a surprising easy under Tomoe's frantic efforts and he found himself falling ass over tea-kettle at the unexpected ease at which they parted for him. He landed inside the shrine in a tangle of limbs and terror, scarcely having time to orient himself before another voice - feminine and as soft as silk to his ears - drifted over to him from the darkest corner of the room.

"You've really returned to me," Tomoe scrambled up to his hands and knees, blinking into the dark in bewilderment as the slim form of a woman took shape in the shadows. Or...not quite a woman. Was it the dips of the shadowy half light he was seeing her in, or was he truly seeing a tail swishing gently behind her? She peered over her shoulder at him, two ears far removed from human perched atop her head. "Mikage. It's been so long...so very, _very_ long."

The silk of her voice became as jagged as broken glass, fury clear on her face as she spun to face him with long, dangerous claws flashing in the light of the demons aglow outside. "What the hell did you think you were trying to pull running off like that?!" More fire, blue and blazing and so, so much worse than that of the demons outside, roared to life around her slim frame. "I'm going to roast you alive and feed you to the rats for this!"

Tomoe screamed as the beautiful, terrible creature leapt at him, blue fire and sharp claws and fangs fit for tearing his throat out. He brought his hands up to try and defend as much as he could from the supernatural assault he'd found himself under, ready to feel his skin shred and blister the moment she fell upon him.

The attack never came.

He waited. One pounding heartbeat, then another, then another. The light of the fires outside disappeared from behind his closed eyes. Silence heavy enough to smother settled around him, stark and unsettling the wake of the chaos from a moment before. His body remained unscathed by supernatural attack. Hesitantly, he cracked one eye open.

The woman was standing over him, frozen in mid motion with claws extended towards him though the blue fire that had enshrouded her had dissipated. In place of the soul withering fury that had been on her face before now lay naked bewilderment as she stared at him. Tomoe took an unsteady breath and watched as her hands dropped to her sides, as harmless as they could be all considering. "You," She said, staring at him through the fringe of her hair. "Are not Mikage."

He blinked up at her, body starting to shake from the adrenaline pounding in his system. As he stared two fireballs the same color as those he saw outside though much smaller burst into life on either side of the strange woman. He was about to scramble to his feet and fling himself away before they turned into the monstrous flames from before but stilled as the small fires flickering out and took the shape of two masked children. Two masked children that, as far as he could see, were merrily floating in the air uncaring of gravity and it's demands. One of the yokai woman's large, animal-like ears flicked as the one with white and black mask started chattering, though her eyes didn't move from Tomoe's prone form.

"But I can sense Mikage-Sama's essence about him Nanami-Dono!" The masked child pipped.

The other floating child - this one's mask looked human though it was ringed in green - added in, "Observe the mark upon his forehead!" as he pointed at Tomoe.

The woman - Nanami as the demon children had called her - gave a tired sigh. "That may be Kotetsu, but the mark does not change that this boy is not Mikage." The woman's one ear gave another irritated flick and she rubbed at the bridge of her nose tiredly. She glanced at each of the children floating about her before peering down at Tomoe, grimacing almost guiltily as she did. Slowly, as if understanding that his heart was still pounding in his chest and his mind was screaming at him to flee, the woman settled herself down so that she sat kneeling before him. Then she did what seemed the most ridiculous thing of all.

She bowed to him.

It was a slight bow, respectful but reserved, her movements accentuated by the shimmering silk her kimono was made out of. Tomoe noticed suddenly, in a part of his thoughts that seemed very far away from the rest of his mind, that she was rather lovely. "I apologize for frightening you," She rose from her bow and met his gaze, an apologetic cast to her face. "I didn't intend to frighten you. I thought that you were Mikage and…" She stopped, and he saw a flash of hurt upon her face. "It doesn't' matter. My name is Nanami."

Tomoe felt very much like he was standing precariously close to the edge of insanity, his toes brushing over open air and his body swaying between the familiar and the impossible. But his mother had spent the too-few years she had in life drilling manners into him and he'd be damned if he failed her now. Sitting in a run down shrine on a half forgotten mountain, recently abandoned by his father and in the face of yokai of legends Tomoe sat up and gave a short returning bow and promptly introduced himself. "Momozono Tomoe."

Nanami nodded, smoothing her hands over the folds of her kimono as silence settled between them. He took the moment to take her in without the threat of imminent death to cloud his view. Two very unhuman ears twitching atop her head - cat, perhaps? - and a long tail curling around her knees marked her clearly as not being human - if the trick with the wild blue flames from earlier was not enough for him to guess. Long claws at her fingertips confirmed her as a yokai, as impossible as the more rational part of his mind insisted that be. She otherwise looked like any other woman he might meet on the street. A year or two off from his own age at a glance, ignoring the air of agelessness that settled around her. Honey brown eyes and long brown hair allowed to flow around her wild and loose in contrast to the traditional clothing she wore. It all suited her though. The fabric of the kimono a collection of light and dark blues gathering to create a flowing pattern of flowers, the ornate fabric held in place with an elaborately tied obi of soft pinks and creams.

The entirely mad portion of his mind that had noted earlier that she was lovely was, he could admit, correct. The yokai woman sitting before him was lovely, if entirely dangerous and still possibly going to kill him.

"Hmm. Well then Momozono Tomoe," Nanami said, seeming having sized him up at the same time he was trying to sort her out, "Do you mind telling me what it is you are doing here?"

* * *

"That _**bastard!**_ When I get my hands on him I'm going to flay him alive for this!"

Tomoe shrunk back as he watched one of the masked children - Onikiri? He was fairly certain that was the name the shrine spirit had given him upon introductions - try and calm the raging Nanami's temper. The kitsune - _**kitsune**_ _, dear kami and all the spirits of the heavens what in the world had he gotten himself into_ \- had managed to listen to his story rather calmly, interjecting politely only to ask questions or to get some clarification, sitting as poised as any queen holding court as he spoke. It wasn't until he'd finished that she'd lost what he now understood to have been entirely contrived sense of calm she'd shown earlier.

"First he abandons the shrine for decades and then he dumps his responsibilities on a human boy! What was Mikage thinking!" The blue flames he'd seen earlier burst to life around her slim frame again, sending the little shrine spirit skittering over towards Tomoe in search for shelter from the flames. Tomoe watched in awe as Nanami moved - so swiftly he scarcely could her movements at all - towards the still open door of the shrine and cast the balls of blue light out into the night with a sharp barking order, "Kitsunibi find Mikage!"

"I've never seen Nanami-Dono so angry before!" Onikiri whimpered from where she'd buried her masked face into Tomoe's shoulder. Kotetsu clung to Tomoe's other side tightly, the male Shrine Spirit somehow looking close to tears even through the mask. Tomoe tried shaking them off but they only clung to him tighter.

"Does anyone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" He turned his attention to Nanami still standing at the doorway. She paused in her glaring out at the city scape in the distance long enough to turn and give him a tired sigh.

"That man you met's name was Mikage, he was the Tochigami of this Shrine." She said, moving to face him fully. "Twenty years ago he left to go into the city for what he said was a brief errand. Suffice it to say he has not returned. And now," Tomoe saw her hands clench at her side, anger flashing in her eyes and turning them a furious amber for the briefest of moments. "And now he's given _you_ this Shrine and his Mark of Divinity. Twenty years he abandons his duties and now he's made _you_ a Kami in his place. What on earth was he _thinking._ "

The twin child spirits finally released him, but only long enough for them to cheerfully start flinging flower petals at his head and singing about how joyous it was to have a Kami back at the shrine. Tomoe ignored them, unable to do anything but stare at the woman before him in bewilderment.

"You must be joking." His voice was weaker than he would have liked. Exhaustion and an overwhelming night combined to sap the certainty from his voice. The whole thing was mad. He was seated in a decrepit shrine while a kitsune woman told him that he was the Kami of the land they stood on. A fever dream. He would wake up in his home with his father away at work and school only a few weeks away to find he'd been suffering from strange dreams brought on by a bad summer cold. "There's no way that I'm a-a _Tochigami_ that is absolutely ridiculous!"

"I agree." Nanami's voice cut through the rising panic in his head and stilled the spirits in their song. The rage had gone from her and in the dim glow of the lantern the Shrine Spirits had brought earlier Tomoe could see the weariness in her frame. Twenty years, Tomoe considered, was a long time to be left alone to stew in your abandonment. He'd not yet had to face it for a full twenty hours yet and he felt stripped down and raw, what must have it been like for this sad looking fox standing before him now? "Mikage making you the Tochigami of this shrine in his place _is_ ridiculous. You did not ask for this responsibility, he merely gave it to you without even telling you what it is or how much of a burden it would be. It's ridiculous and unfair."

Nanami stepped forward, moving to stand above him. Silence settled around them again as she stared down at him and Tomoe fought hard not to fidget beneath her searching look. A small hand, delicate and dangerous with long, deadly claws, reached out and brushed some of the hair away from his forehead. The same place the man from earlier - Mikage - had placed his hand just as he stood to leave. A small sign of comfort for a stranger Tomoe had assumed earlier, but now understood had been the man passing along the mark that would make Tomoe a Kami.

Nanami dropped her hand and looked again towards the open shrine door and the city where her kitsunebi was undoubtedly flying about in search of the man that had abandoned her. What had been Mikage to her? A husband, a father? Had she been looking for him all this time? Or had she, like Tomoe, accepted that she'd been cast aside the moment that she'd been able to fully understand it?

"Come." Nanami's voice broke the stillness. Tomoe blinked to find that she'd turned her attention back to him and was motioning for him to rise. "It's late and you must be tired. I'll make up a futon for you for the night and we can discuss everything further in the morning."

She held a hand out to help him up, the Shrine Spirits already rushing to lift the lantern and lead the way with the supernatural fire that burned within it. Tired, overwhelmed and lost as to where else he could go at that point Tomoe accepted the hand and the offer for shelter that came with it. He couldn't stay there forever - it was all too much, too impossible to live with - but he could stay a night or two while he got his bearings and figured out what his next steps would be.

As he drifted off to sleep in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room he wondered what Nanami would do, if the Kitsunebi she'd sent out would return to her with the news she was looking for. He wondered, in the last moment before he slipped away, why it was that they had both been abandoned like they had.


	2. Chapter 2

And here's chapter the second!

Thank you guys for reading and reviewing! It means a lot to hear from you guys!

 **A note on this chapter:**

 **This is a fairly slow chapter, but it has some the groundwork for some bigger changes and plot points coming up in later chapters that I really can't wait to get to (yay!) So I appologize if this is a little slower than you would like but I do promise it will be picking up here pretty soon.**

 **Another quick note on the Kitsune V.S Nogitsune stuff in this chapter. Kitsune refers to all fox yokai, though in particular Kitsune refers to foxes and fox spirits that serve the god Inari. Kitsune that do not serve Inari are called Nogitsune. Other than this, there is literally no difference between a Kitsune and Nogitsune.**

 **And with that, here is Chapter 2!**

 **Reviews are loved and ConCrit cherished dearly!**

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking Mikage?" Nanami sighed into the night, watching as her Kitsunebi drifted back up the mountain side to the Shrine, the dullness of the fire telling her already that they had not succeeded in finding the Marriage god.

The boy - Tomoe - was asleep in the futon she'd made up for him. The fright she and the Shrine Spirits had given him alone would have been enough to exhaust him, but she'd seen the shoddy map Mikage had given the human and new just how far he must have walked in order to get there. And that was ignoring the kind of toll a Divine Mark carelessly bestowed could have on an unprepared human body. Likely the young man would sleep well into the next day, and would be able to do little else for a few days after.

"Nanami-Dono?" Onikiri asked, her voice wavering beneath her mask. Nanami glanced down at the child spirit to find her clinging to her twin worriedly. "Do you think Tomoe-Sama will be up to the task of Tochigami?"

"We're afraid that the divine powers bestowed on him will cause his human body harm." Kotetsu added, his grip perhaps too tight on his sister's arms. Nanami felt her heart twist at the sight of the two looking so unsure. She had not been the only one Mikage had abandoned when he'd left, and while she had been able to use her anger at the god to get her through some of the worst of it, the Shrine Spirits had only the fear that she too would leave and they would be abandoned completely.

She moved to kneel before them, gathering the two up in her arms to try and offer some kind of comfort to them. The two spirits moved to cling to the fabric of her kimono, ancient Spirits caught perpetually in the mindsets of children. "I don't know." She sighed, unable to lie to them even as she wished she could. "It's too soon to tell, and I've no experience with a human made a Kami. I don't know what we should expect."

They all set together, watching as her Kitsunebi danced their way up the mountain and returned, reporting what she'd expected before dissipating into the night air. Leaving her to wonder once more at the events of the night.

Would Mikage have actually returned if he hadn't run into Tomoe? The human had said that Mikage had said he was on his way home before being chased up a tree by a dog. Nanami wondered if that was the truth, it was certainly the first that she'd heard anything of Mikage in the first twenty years. That he'd seemingly immediately dumped his responsibility on the first person he'd come across rather than return home and act like an actual Tochigami left her feeling hollowed out and raw. The wound of his abandonment years ago ripped open afresh, leaving her to fall back on the seething rage that had gotten her through when all she'd wanted to do was curl up and let the Shrine turn to dust around her.

From what she could tell Mikage had bestowed the Divine Mark upon Tomoe after all of fifteen minutes of conversation. Nanami had spent longer deliberating on what she should have as a meal, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what had been going through the idiot god's head in making the decision of who would take over his responsibilities.

And now she had an entirely new Kami to contend with. A _human_ Kami at that.

Nanami gave a gusty sigh a nudged the children in her arms to move. "Come on. Our new Tochigami was too tired to grab his bags before he went to bed and we'll need to do some preparing for when he gets up tomorrow."

She sent Onikiri and Kotetsu to gather up Tomoe's scattered belongings as she moved to do some touch ups on the shrine. Restocking the pantry would be a necessity, as well as adjusting the inner sanctum of the Shrine to accommodate a human resident. She would need to speak to Tomoe when he woke and get a handle on what exactly his situation was. Mikage had found the boy in a park in the middle of the night, from what she'd understood of the white haired human's story. If the human had run away from a family and lucked out in finding an affable - if completely idiotic and irresponsible - Tochigami looking to pawn his responsibilities off, she would need to know and prepare for the potential for fall out. The last thing the Shrine needed was to lose another Kami due to something as ridiculous as the human's angry parents showing up and dragging him home.

A rough plan decided she smoothed the wrinkles out of her kimono, stood and started on her tasks, wondering idly how Tomoe would feel about Sasamochi for breakfast.

* * *

It was well into the afternoon by the time Tomoe finally swam up from the depths of his murky slumber.

He was awoken by his head pounding and the faint sound of cooking in the distance. The housekeeper his father employed? She usually didn't cook when she knew Tomoe was home, understanding - if only just - his preference to cook for himself. Perhaps his father was working from home then. It wasn't common, but occasionally the man tried to connect with his son. Usually only to frown at Tomoe's faltering grades in English and urge him to follow the family tradition of becoming a brutally efficient businessman.

Grumbling Tomoe gave up to the fact that the headache pounding behind his eyes wasn't likely to let him fall asleep any time soon - had he been drinking last night? - he begrudgingly pushed himself up to face the day.

Except.

He wasn't in his room.

Tomoe blinked at his surroundings, dread freezing his veins as his gaze went from the unfamiliar polished wood floors to the traditional shoji that very much was not in his home to his two bags set against a nearby wall. He had a brief moment to panic over the fact that he had no idea where he was before the memories of the day before finally pushed their way through the haze of exhaustion and the pain in his head and the absurdity of it all settled down in it's place.

The note from his father. The men from the bank. The idiot man in the park who gave him a fatherly pat on the head and in the process bestowed upon the responsibilities of a god.

Tomoe buried his aching head in his hands and dropped back into the pillow behind him. He'd been made a Tochigami the night before. Or so the pretty Kitsune woman had told him. Considering she _was_ a kitsune - and considering that two pint sized flying Shrine Spirits had enthusiastically backed her claim - he was inclined to believe her. Which meant...he wasn't entirely certain he was sure what it meant. He'd gathered that he had a place to stay at least, though the full spectrum of what exactly was expected of him as a kami was beyond him. Could humans even be Kami?

He groaned into his pillow, wondering idly if he could smother himself with it enough that he could sink back into sleep and not have to worry about anything. The idea that he could quietly grab his things and sneak out of the Shrine before the Shrine Spirits or Nanami noticed drifted through his head for a half a moment before he viciously squashed it. Insane supernatural bullshit aside, he had nowhere else to go, and - initial threat of attack aside - Nanami had been welcoming enough.

That there was an ugly twisting sensation at his heart at the thought of leaving the place didn't help matters either. The sensation pounded in his chest in time with a sudden surge of pain in his head that didn't ease until his thoughts turned away from plans of leaving and settled down somewhere else. Vaguely he was aware that such a visceral reaction wasn't normal. It was as if the land itself had put barbed hooks into his heart, and that even the thought of leaving had sent the hooks diving in deep and making the pain in his head skyrocket. The twin pains twisted together, a punishment in a way for the vague threat of abandoning the place he'd just come to stay. It bite viciously at him, a steady, bone deep ache that burned in the center of his forehead and the depth of his heart and spread outward towards the rest of his body. Pounding like a drum in time with his pulse, threatening to overwhelm him completely and yank him from the conscious world at any moment.

"Tomoe-Sama?"

"Are you well Tomoe-Sama?"

He groaned in response to the sound Onikiri and Kotetsu outside his room, distant and muffled though their voices were. The pain was too much to ignore to properly focus on the world around him. He clutched at his head and squeezed his eyes closed, trying to force his way through the pounding in his head. The pain ignored such attempts, spreading further, stretching out and out and out. Down his neck and across his shoulders, making a path like jagged lightening down his arms towards his fingertips and down his torso. Steady and terrible.

Outside the cocoon he'd wound around himself he could make out - in a distant, clear part of his mind - the sound of hurried footsteps down the hall followed by Nanami's voice. "Tomoe? Are you alright?" He grunted, not trusting his voice to work for the way his entire body was starting to burn. Nanami, when she answered, sounded concerned. "I'm coming in."

He heard the shushing of the shoji sliding open and the soft tread of the Kitsune woman on the floorboards. He felt her presence as she settled beside him, a blessedly cool and clawed hand pushing away the hands cradling his head so she could press her palm against his forehead. He opened his eyes blearily to see her studying him with amber bright eyes and a serious expression. "You're burning up. We need to get your temperature down." She turned to set sharp eyes on the two Shrine Spirits just out of his view. "Onikiri, please get me some cool water and a cloth. Kotetsu, can you go to the kitchen and bring me the mixture I was working on earlier?"

The Spirits responded with a chorus of,"Yes Nanami-Dono!" and "Right away!" before skittering off in blatant disregard for the laws of gravity. Before Tomoe could even fully process their leaving through the haze of pain burning out from his forehead they had returned with the requested items in hand. Nanami thanked them and sent them off to get pillows to prop him up. The process of being pushed and prodded into an upright position was hardly comfortable, but the two Shrine Spirits looked more relieved to see him not curled up in his futon like a small, feverish child and Nanami's face looked a little pinched.

Nanami dampened the cloth in the water and settled it on his head to try and lower his fever. Placing his own hand on the cloth he sighed in relief. It didn't help with the pain exactly, but it was a small comfort nonetheless. Looking at Nanami he saw that her attention had shifted to the bowl that Kotetsu had brought her, stirring the contents steadily. With the cloth cooling his head Tomoe finally managed to find his voice, "Thanks." Wincing at a lightning sharp pang down his back he asked, "What's happening to me?" He'd never really been sick before, not like that. And he'd never had an illness appear so suddenly and so brutally before.

The kitsune woman sighed and looked up from the bowl she sat before as she explained, "It's the mark Mikage gave you. You're body is trying to adjust to the power that comes with it, and since you're human it's taking a toll." She pushed the bowl she'd been working on into his hands. "Here, it looks terrible, and doesn't smell much better but it actually doesn't taste too bad it'll help with the pain."

Tomoe peered down at the contents of the bowl scowling at the brown and green mash, his nose wrinkling at the smell of unfamiliar herbs and spices. He poked at the mush with the spoon Nanami had used to mix it, mildly afraid that it would come to life and take the utensil from him. "The hell is this?"

Nanami looked far too amused for his liking. "Fox medicine, an old, _old_ recipe." She poked at him encouraging him to eat. "I promise it really doesn't' taste that bad. A little bitter, but the honey should help with that."

He gave a distrustful look at the slop in the bowl and, grumbling, took as small a bite as he could, fully expecting to be spitting it back out again as soon as the mash hit his tongue. When he found instead a faint sweetness and an unfamiliar blend of flavors he was hard pressed to identify. Something like mint, something like pepper, strange and not entirely unpleasant. He blinked down at the mush and, bewildered, took another bite, electing a small chuckle from the woman seated beside him. He jabbed the spoon at her, irritated at the small victory she'd claimed. "Alright. You won, it's not completely awful. Though I'm not convinced you're not using some kind of trick on me to think it's better than it is. I've heard stories about you Kitsune."

He watched, surprised, as her expression cooled some, one of her ears flicking in irritation. Tugging at one of her billowing white sleeves - he realized, suddenly, that she had traded the kimono of the night before for the traditional garb of a Miko, all white and red and surprisingly lovely on her frame - she prodded him to continue eating before saying. "I'm not a Kitsune."

At that proclamation Tomoe gave her a bewildered stare, his eyes pointedly turning to the ears atop her head and the tail curled around her knees. She sighed and tried to explainm "I am a fox ayakashi, yes, but not a Kitsune." She pushed at the bowl in his hands again, and reluctantly he shoveled another spoonful of the mash in his mouth as she went on. "Kitsune are fox yokai that serve Inari, and there's no love lost between he and I." He watched those ears of hers twitch again, saw the amber glow in her eyes, and absently noted that he should keep tabs on what each could mean for her moods. It would only be useful if he was going to be staying at the Shrine with her.

"So…" He ate some more of the mash, noticing that the pounding in his head had eased some since he'd started on it. "What are you then?"

Onikiri and Kotetsu, having been sent off to get tea, returned just in time for the exchange with a tray heavy with kettle and cups and a collection of Sasamochi that made Tomoe want to throw the bowl in his hands to the side completely and devour them up whole. The two Shrine Spirits set their load down beside Nanami and flitted over to Tomoe, eager to answer their new master's query. Onikiri was the first to speak, her mask seeming to grin wider than it had before as she said, "Nanami-Dono is a Nogitsune Tomoe-Sama." Adding on, headless of the irritated look of said Nogitsune behind her, "She was a wild fox before Mikage took her as his Shinshi."

Kotetsu, joining his twin added, "Mikage-Sama has a dislike of dogs so he chose her as his Shinshi rather than the usual Lion-Dogs." Tomoe thought of the man he'd met, clinging to the bare limbs of a tree, openly weeping in fear of the small dog cheerfully yapping at him from the ground. He thought that "dislike" was perhaps the wrong word for the feelings the blond Kami seemed to have for canines. Kotetsu continued on cheerful, "The fact that Nanami-Dono is a Nogitsune meant that she was free to be his Shinshi unburdened by a bond to another Kami."

"Shinshi?" Tomoe asked, eyeing the Sasamochi on the nearby tray. The pain in his head and heart was down to something far more manageable levels - now a dull ache just in the center of his forehead where the Mark lay - and the idea of something more familiar and delicious to eat outside the medicinal mash was tempting. He reached for one of the treats as he asked, "What's a Shinshi?"

Nanami slapped his hand away with a glower, "Finish what you have first." She ordered, before answering him, casting a vaguely suspicious look to the twin spirits floating around Tomoe's head as she did. "A Shinshi is a servant to a Kami. More to the point, a Shinshi is the _main_ servant of a Kami." She poured each of them some tea and, as Tomoe put down the finally emptied bowl, handed both a cup and one of the Sasamochi over to him. "The Kami binds the beast they want to be their Shinshi with a contract, and from that moment on the Shinshi's duty is to protect and provide for the Kami in every way they are able."

"And you're Mikage's Shinshi?" Tomoe asked, gleefully unwrapping the treat before taking a large, delighted bite out of it. Though he preferred to cook for himself - his standards of food were far higher than most he'd found over the years - he had to admit that the Sasamochi he'd been given by the Spirit children was some of the best he'd ever had.

"I was." Nanami said, looking a little far away as she sipped her tea. There was something...sad, almost, in the words. Tomoe realized that, for all that she was his servant, Mikage had likely been a friend of some kind too before his departure. He was about to ask how she'd come to be Mikage's Shinshi, when the twins spoke up excitedly.

"But now Nanami-Dono will be your Shinshi Tomoe-Sama!" Kotetsu chimed. "All you need to do is complete the Contract and you will be bonded!"

Onikiri flitted up around the Kitsune - or, Nogitsune, rather - in question, motioning to the fox woman's face as she said, "All you need to do is kiss Nanami-Dono on the mouth while willing the Contract to be formed and it shall be done!"

Tomoe, unprepared, sputtered on the tea he'd taken a sip of. Bewildered that the Spirit Children would even suggest such a thing - Shinshi binding or no, he was _not_ going to being kissing the pretty fox woman. Nanami, for her part, looked even more incensed than he was. A crackling of golden amber came to life in her suddenly slitted eyes, and a her sharp fangs were clearly visible as she snapped at them, "Absolutely _not_."

The two children skittered back, darting behind Tomoe as if to use him as a human shield against the infuriated fox. Not that they would be getting any sympathy from him on the matter. " _But Nanami-Dono!_ " The twins cried in unison, tiny hands clinging to Tomoe's shoulders and tiny voices ringing shrilly in the white haired boy's aching head. Tomoe shoved them off, sending the two tumbling through the air behind him in a mess of small kimonos and masked faces. In the midst of trying to right themselves one of them - Tomoe wasn't even sure which - tried a quick, "But Mikage-Sama recommended him!"

Had Tomoe been inclined to actually make her his Shinshi - and ignoring that he would have to kiss her, _kiss her_ \- he would have told the little spirits that bringing Mikage into the discussion would be the last thing they'd want to do. Nanami had been Mikage's Shinshi, and Mikage had abandoned her. Bringing up the former master of the Shrine would only make her angrier. The fox in question threw a pillow in the direction of the Shrine Spirits. They, in perhaps their brightest move yet, dashed towards the door to make a quick exit.

"But nothing! I can't believe you two would even suggest it!" Tomoe ducked to avoid the next pillow thrown towards their retreating forms and in the process earned a sharp, accusing look from the kitsune as her attention landed on him. "And don't you think that just because you're the Tochigami of this Shrine now that you get to have any stupid ideas of me becoming your Shinshi! I don't care _who_ you were recommended by, you try and force a Contract on me and scratch your eyes out!" A dangerous, clawed finger jabbed at Tomoe's face as if to emphasize her point, making him flinch back into the pillows propping him up. Nanami's eyes were still flashing amber but the deadly crackle of as yet unsummoned kitsunebi settled to a low threat of heat as she seemed to try to rein her temper in. "You seem nice enough, but I don't know you and I will _not_ be bound to the whims of a sadistic Kami."

Tomoe held his hands up in surrender, his own anger flashing even as he did "What the hell do you think I'm going to do? Sneak into your room an accost you in the middle of the night? I don't _want_ a Shinshi - I don't even want to be a Tochigami!" He saw the flash of hurt, and a nearly concealed gleam of panic at the announcement and, feeling his heart squirm unexpectedly, forced himself to take a breath and calm down.

"Look." He sighed, "I didn't ask to be the Tochigami of this shrine. I didn't ask for this Mark on my head or the both literal and figurative headaches that came with it. But I'm going to try not to fuck it up, alright? I don't exactly have anywhere else to go."

Nanami's tense frame relaxed some at his words, a long, slow breath leaving her as she looked at him. At length she gave a slow nod, accepting his words.

"Alright." She said, "We need to sort some things out though." She met his eye and Tomoe nodded, waiting to hear her out. "I'm not going to be your Shinshi," She met his gaze steadily, almost daring him to argue, though he didn't. Not yet. Not unless she planned on feeding him more of that mash at least. "It's nothing against you. I don't _know_ you well enough to make a decision either way. But I'm not going to leave you running around blind either. This Shrine is my home, and has been a long time. No offense but I'm not just going to turn it over to some idiot to run into the ground."

Tomoe frowned at the jab, but didn't argue her point. "Fine. So how about we make a deal? You show me the ropes of this Tochigami business and help me keep this place in one piece, and I'll do my best not to fuck it up."

"You better be doing that anyway." She snapped, and he saw one of her ears flick back in warning.

He frowned, but conceded. "Fine, I'll do my best not to fuck it all up, _and_ I promise to never force you into a Shinshi contract." She looked more appeased at that, and wanting to try and making the potential awkwardness of the situation they were in a little more bearable for the both of them, he offered the best olive branch he could. It wasn't much, but it was the best he had, considering that he was recently broke, homeless and embarrassingly dependant on the woman sitting in front of him in regards to the life he had unceremoniously been dropped in the middle of. "I'll even cook all the meals, as long as you can supply the food at least."

Nanami's ears perked at that, "You can cook?" She asked, and Tomoe knew he had at least found something to endear himself to her.

He nodded, "I did all the cooking at home before I got booted." Seeing the frown of concern begin at the corners of her lips he hastily pushed forward to try and avoid the inevitable conversion of just what the events leading up to his meeting Mikage were. He would have to tell her eventually, especially if they would be living on the same grounds, but he needed time to come to terms with it all himself before laying it all bare for anyone else to see. "So do we have a deal?"

Nanami gave him a look that said he wasn't fooling anyone in the avoidance, but nodded all the same. "A deal then." She picked up his tea, tepid from sitting for so long during all the chaos. "Drink. Bargains shouldn't be made without some kind of honoring, and right now tea and Sasamochi are the best I can do." She sipped at her own tea, frowning at the temperature and swiftly summoning her blue flames to life to warm both their cups. He nearly dropped his tea in fear of having the flesh roasted from his hands but was only surprised when - despite the brew in his hand getting warmer - the fire itself where it touched his skin only tingled pleasantly.

When he looked up at Nanami in wonder she offered him a small smile and he was struck by the realization that it was the first real, full smile she'd given him since he'd met her. It was lovely, fitting on her face in a way that made him realize that she hadn't looked fully complete without it, and making him feel a sense of pride at having been able to - however unintentionally - cause it to exist. He smiled back, probably a little stupidly, and settled back into the pillows to enjoy his tea and sweets.

Life at the Shrine, as crazed as it was undoubtedly going to be, might very well be worth it after all.


End file.
